People Behind the Science Podcast

By Dr. Marie McNeelyScience

People Behind the Science Podcast episodes

January 22, 2024 744: Dr. Ryan Potts: Innovating Drug Discovery with Novel Approaches to Target Disease-Causing Proteins
Dr. Ryan Potts is VP of Research and Head of the Induced Proximity Platform at Amgen that works on ways to bring two or more molecules in close proximity to each other to tackle drug targets that are currently considered “undruggable.” He also leads Amgen’s Research & Development Postdoctoral Fellows Program. Ryan received his BS in biology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and he was awarded his PhD in cellular and molecular biology from UT Southwestern Medical Center. After completing his PhD, Ryan served on the faculty at UT Southwestern Medical Center for eight years before accepting a position on the faculty at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. He joined the team at Amgen in 2020. In this interview, he shares more about his life and science.
People Behind the Science Podcast Show Notes
Life Outside of Science (2:23)
Outside of science, Ryan likes to spend quality time with his family and his kids. They enjoy exploring the natural world, hiking, and visiting the nearby Santa Monica Mountains and local beaches. Ryan is also an avid traveler and sports fan.
The Scientific Side (3:42)
Ryan conducts early-stage research to discover new high-impact medicines for serious diseases that have a high unmet medical need. Their work examines biological pathways, drug targets, disease drivers, and new ways to create drugs that have the desired effects. In particular, Ryan is exploring ways to bring two or more molecules together (induced proximity) to impact targets that are difficult to drug.
A Dose of Motivation (4:57)
“Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.” – Dr. Joe Goldstein
What Got You Hooked on Science? (10:28)
When Ryan was two years old, he was diagnosed with a brain tumor, and the tumor recurred when he was nine years old. This meant that Ryan spent much of his childhood in and out of hospitals and using different treatments, some of which have become lifelong therapies. Being immersed in this medical and scientific environment got him interested in why these kinds of conditions happen, and this was a gateway into thinking about medicine and biomedical research. Ryan attended college at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and while there, he had the opportunity to work in the research lab of his pediatric endocrinologist. This was an amazing experience. Ryan started off as a dishwasher and then worked his way up to doing basic experiments in the lab. Though he had entered college thinking he would pursue a career in medicine, this exposure to research changed his career trajectory. After graduating, Ryan worked for a few years as a research technician in the lab of a newly hired faculty member at UNC-Chapel Hill, and this gave him a chance to learn how to start a research lab from the ground up. This solidified Ryan’s interest in pursuing a career in academic research, and he enrolled in graduate school at UT Southwestern to get his PhD. Later in his career, Ryan had an unexpected opportunity to transition to industry. This was a major pivot in his career, but his position at Amgen is a unique role that has allowed him to work on really exciting projects in drug discovery.
The Low Points: Failures and Challenges (25:48)
While working as a research technician at UNC-Chapel Hill, Ryan was studying primary neurons, and this involved a painstaking, multi-day process to collect the neurons, followed by weeks of culturing the samples. The next step was to conduct the experiments with various treatments. Then, the neurons had to be processed to get the data they needed. Ryan had a very ambitious goal of doing a biochemistry experiment, which required a lot of sample material. He was really excited about the project. He worked hard over a period of several weeks to get to the final step of the project, which involved performing a western blot. Ryan had to transfer his sample from a gel to a membrane to probe the sample, and the procedure had to be set up a particular way so the sample would move onto the membrane. After finishing this final step, Ryan was devastated when he realized that he set up this last step wrong, and the sample had moved from the gel to the buffer instead of onto the membrane. There was nothing he could do at that point but start over. Fortunately, Ryan had a supportive advisor, and his spouse is also in science, and they helped him work through this major disappointment.
A Shining Success! (30:07)
Over the last 10-15 years, the thing that Ryan has found to be most rewarding is seeing trainees succeed. Whether it is graduate students, postdocs, or early-career staff scientists, it is wonderful to see their hard work lead to publications and breakthrough discoveries. Ryan is also in charge of the postdoc program at Amgen, and it is really gratifying to see the scientists in the program grow their skills and find the next step in their career paths. This role has allowed him to have an impact on each individual as well as work to advance the science in the field as a whole.
Book Recommendations (32:59)
Harry Potter Series by J. K. Rowling, The Emperor of All Maladies by Siddhartha Mukherjee
Most Treasured Travel (34:05)
One of the most memorable places that Ryan has been for science was a trip to China with his wife. They attended conferences there, gave talks at different universities, and saw some of the local sights. Ryan and his wife visited Beijing, Chengdu in Central China, and Xiaomin on the Southeastern coast. The culture and food were remarkable, and Ryan also enjoyed seeing the Forbidden City in Beijing and the panda reserve in Chengdu. Last September, Ryan attended a conference in Croatia, and this was also an outstanding trip. He particularly enjoyed the historic city of Dubrovnik where the Game of Thrones series was filmed.
Quirky Traditions and Funny Memories (36:31)
In Ryan’s lab at UT Southwestern and at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, whenever they published a paper, someone in the group created a funny graphic or image that represented the findings. Ryan kept all of these over the years, and they are still on the wall of his office today. Each image has a connection to a particular individual who worked on the project, and the images remind him of those people. Ryan also had fun during their annual lab retreats. These were great for getting to know people in the group, and the competition often got intense while playing board games together.
Advice For Us All (39:52)
Networking is tremendously important. Get to know as many people as you can because you never know what that will lead to. This has had a major impact on Ryan’s career. Also, follow where the science takes you and explore unexpected observations. These often lead to the most impactful and transformative discoveries that can break open new fields. Don’t be afraid to take risks.
Guest Bio
Ryan’s research is focused on tackling drug targets that are currently considered “undruggable.” As lead of Amgen’s Induced Proximity Platform (IPP), Ryan and his team are seeking new therapeutic approaches to target the 85% of proteins and other molecules that are considered undruggable. Instead of having to bind a target and act on it directly, an IPP molecule can bring the target in close proximity to systems in the cell that can modify or degrade that target. These molecules are called multispecifics (since they have more than one target) and have the potential to bind to proteins or RNA inside or outside of cells. One example of this type of molecule is a PROTAC, or proteolysis targeting chimera, which leverages the enzymes that tag unwanted or damaged proteins for destruction by a cellular machine called the proteasome. PROTACs have the ability to destroy a target, then move onto the next target and repeat the process. Conversely, conventional medicines must stay bound to their target to act, which can limit their effect in the body. Outside of work, Ryan likes to watch and play sports, hike, and travel with his wife and two daughters in Thousand Oaks, California.

The post 744: Dr. Ryan Potts: Innovating Drug Discovery with Novel Approaches to Target Disease-Causing Proteins appeared first on People Behind the Science Podcast.
43 min
January 15, 2024 743: Dr. Pankaj Karande: Advancing Tissue Engineering, Drug Discovery, and Drug Delivery
Dr. Pankaj Karande is an Associate Professor in Chemical and Biological Engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. He was awarded his B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Mumbai University Institute of Chemical Technology and his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of California, Santa Barbara. Pankaj was awarded an Anna Fuller Postdoctoral Fellowship in Molecular Oncology, and he conducted postdoctoral research in the Center for Cancer Research at Massachusetts Institute of Technology before joining the faculty at Rensselaer. Pankaj has received a variety of awards and honors in his career, including the Excellence in Classroom Instruction Award and the Outstanding Teaching Award from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. He also received the Alzheimer’s Association New Investigator Research Award, the Goldhirsh Brain Tumor Research Award, and a Bronze Edison Award in the Best New Product in Science and Medical Category. In addition, he has been issued multiple patents in the areas of Transdermal Formulation Discovery and Novel High Throughput Screening Platforms. In our interview, Pankaj shares more about his life and science.
People Behind the Science Podcast Show Notes
Life Outside of Science (3:10)
When he’s not working, Pankaj loves to cook, and experimenting with different recipes has been a great way to relieve stress.
The Scientific Side (4:05)
Pankaj was trained as a chemical engineer, and his research aims to apply engineering approaches and technology to solve problems in biology and healthcare to improve the quality and quantity of human life. Projects in his lab span areas such as drug discovery, drug delivery, biomaterials, diagnostics, and more.
A Dose of Motivation (4:53)
“It’s not the size of the dog in the fight, it’s the size of the fight in the dog.” – Mark Twain
What Got You Hooked on Science? (8:05)
Throughout his training and career, Pankaj has had outstanding teachers and mentors who introduced him to science and research. This was particularly helpful because neither of Pankaj’s parents went to college, and he didn’t know any scientists when he was growing up. He knew he wanted to continue in school after finishing his chemical engineering undergraduate program, so he decided to apply for PhD programs. When Pankaj started graduate school, he had narrowed down his interests to three research areas. However, early on, he made a major pivot after hearing a presentation from a new faculty member who had just joined the department. Pankaj joined this lab and began working on drug delivery. Choosing to study drug delivery meant Pankaj had to go back and learn all of the biology, physiology, and anatomy that he had previously avoided in his training because he didn’t want his work to overlap with that of his older sister. During his first year in graduate school, Pankaj spent a lot of time in the library, immersed in text books and articles, and this reignited his passion for learning. He knew he wanted to have flexibility and freedom to choose what he worked on, so Pankaj decided to pursue academic science. Pankaj had an offer for a faculty position before he finished his PhD, but he decided to expand his expertise through a postdoctoral fellowship focused on protein engineering first. Having broad experience across multiple research areas has helped him become a better teacher and scientist.
The Low Points: Failures and Challenges (22:20)
About six years ago, Pankaj was working with his team to build vascular networks in 3D-printed skin. During the process, they discovered that different cell types in the skin require very different conditions to survive, and when they tried to put the cells in culture together, it didn’t go well. They spent about a year and a half trying to build 3D vascular networks in skin, but the endothelial cells kept collapsing and settling to the bottom without forming blood vessels. This work was done in collaboration with scientists at another university. Their collaborators completed the long and complex process of obtaining and preparing the endothelial cells for Pankaj’s lab to print, and then shipped them to Pankaj overnight via FedEx in a cold pack. There was one instance where Pankaj’s lab had everything lined up for an important series of experiments, and they were just waiting for the cells to arrive. Unfortunately, the delivery person left their box at the wrong address, and all the cells died. Months of work were wasted, and it was difficult to recover from this setback, but they were eventually able to get everything to work after many iterative changes to the culture media.
A Shining Success! (25:02)
Pankaj and his lab members are really excited about their work incorporating hair follicles in 3D-printed skin. This was a big problem in the scientific community, and they received a lot of pushback in reviews for their grants and papers. The paper on this project was recently published in a prestigious journal, and it was the culmination of six years of work from a student in the lab. Being able to include hair follicles in 3D-printed skin is important for creating better skin grafts for regenerative medicine in terms of improved wound healing and aesthetics. It is also an important step for creating in vitro skin models that can be used to understand the impacts of topical agents applied to the skin, because the hair follicle is a potential point of entry where these agents could get inside the body and cause toxicity.
Book Recommendations (30:33)
The Premonition by Michael Lewis, The Wizard and the Prophet: Two Remarkable Scientists and Their Dueling Visions to Shape Tomorrow’s World by Charles Mann
Most Treasured Travel (32:01)
Recently, Pankaj had an opportunity to travel to Denmark to review a center at the University of Copenhagen. Both he and his wife have friends in Sweden and Norway, so they extended the trip and toured multiple Scandinavian countries. It was fun to travel with his wife and their toddler, and they particularly enjoyed visiting The Nobel Prize Museum, seeing the Opera House in Oslo, and celebrating Thanksgiving with friends.
Quirky Traditions and Funny Memories (34:40)
While a graduate student at UC, Santa Barbara, Pankaj and his labmates often returned to the lab in the evenings to play the game Call of Duty. At that time, the university was the only place that had a good high speed internet connection. They all huddled up in the lab, turned off the lights, put on their headphones, and had fun playing together. One night, they were all really absorbed in the game and failed to notice that their advisor had just walked in. When they saw him, they all froze and prepared themselves for a stern lecture. However, their advisor just smiled, told them to carry on, and left. Game nights were fantastic for team-building, and Pankaj still has strong connections with those lab members today.
Advice For Us All (38:17)
Don’t let others tell you what you can or cannot do. If you truly believe you have a good idea, then keep at it. If you persevere, you can bring your ideas and goals to fruition.
Guest Bio
Pankaj’s research is centered on applying engineering approaches to develop novel and efficient solutions for healthcare. One area of research in his laboratory focuses on using 3D bio printing platforms to build human tissues, such as skin, that can be used as grafts for patients in regenerative medicine. The eventual goal is to make available personalized skin grafts for patients that lead to improved wound healing. A second area of research in his lab is focused on developing new processes for purification of drugs and biologics, such as mRNA, antibodies, and viral vectors. When not in the lab, Pankaj enjoys trying out recipes from different regions of the world, although he is currently obsessed with recreating special delicacies from southern India. He is always getting into trouble with his wife for buying new kitchen gadgets for his culinary experiments. When not in the lab or in the kitchen, Pankaj enjoys going for long walks, a bicycle ride, or listening to the latest episodes of his favorite podcasts (Freakonomics, Cautionary Tales, Car Talk, and This American Life amongst others). Usually an avid reader of many different genres, his current reading list is limited to Dr. Suess and Sandra Boynton with his 18 month old.

Support for this episode of People Behind the Science was provided by New England Biolabs, Inc.
The post 743: Dr. Pankaj Karande: Advancing Tissue Engineering, Drug Discovery, and Drug Delivery appeared first on People Behind the Science Podcast.
41 min
January 08, 2024 742: Dr. Claire Higgins: Studying Hair Follicles and Skin to Better Understand Tissue Development and Regeneration
Dr. Claire Higgins is a Reader (faculty) in Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine in the Department of Bioengineering at Imperial College London. She is also President of the European Hair Research Society and Vice President of the Institute of Trichologists, a professional association for researchers who study the hair and scalp. Claire received her B.Sc. in natural sciences and her PhD in skin developmental biology from Durham University in England. Afterwards, she conducted postdoctoral research at Columbia University. She worked as an Associate Research Scientist at Columbia University before joining the faculty and starting her laboratory at Imperial College London in 2014. In our interview, she shares more about her life and science.
People Behind the Science Podcast Show Notes
Life Outside of Science (2:48)
Making pottery has been one of Claire’s favorite pastimes since she took her first classes as a postdoc. She enjoys making items like bowls, vases, and lamp bases on her pottery wheel in her studio during her free time.
The Scientific Side (4:42)
Claire teaches and conducts research in the areas of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. She uses skin and hair follicles as models to better understand how tissues respond to injury, heal wounds, and repair after disease.
A Dose of Motivation (5:35)
Dance like no one’s watching.
It’s not the destination that’s important, it’s the journey.
What Got You Hooked on Science? (8:31)
Claire loves asking questions and finding the answers. In her earliest biology classes, she was constantly stopping the teacher to ask questions during their lectures. Fortunately, Claire had a great teacher who took the time to answer her questions and look up the answers to some of the more difficult ones. When she enrolled in college, Claire took courses in chemistry, biology, and archaeology. She later narrowed her focus to chemistry and biology and decided to pursue a PhD. Claire only applied to one PhD position after hearing the investigator give inspiring lectures at her college. She was accepted and learned a lot during her graduate training. At that time, she knew she wanted to study skin and hair development, and her PhD advisor suggested she apply for a postdoc position in a particular lab that specialized in that area. Claire applied only for this one postdoc opportunity, and she was thrilled to get the position. At each step of her scientific journey, Claire made decisions based on what she enjoyed doing most, and this has served her well. She ultimately decided to apply for faculty positions, and after an initial round of rejections, she got an interview and an offer to launch her own independent research career.
The Low Points: Failures and Challenges (19:16)
During her PhD, Claire did a rotation in another lab for about six months. While she was there, she tried to continue making the organoids she had been working on in her PhD lab, but she just couldn’t get the organoids to form. After painstaking, systematic troubleshooting, Claire discovered that the antibiotics used in the cell culture in her rotation lab were different, and this difference prevented the formation of organoids. Once she removed the one antibiotic from the culture media, the organoids grew beautifully. A few months later when she was back in her PhD lab, she struggled to get the antibodies to work in her antibody staining. This was another major struggle where Claire just couldn’t figure out why she couldn’t repeat this technically simple experiment. After more troubleshooting, Claire was able to determine that the source of the issue was the water used in her buffer solution. This situation delayed her by about four months, but it was an important learning experience.
A Shining Success! (23:12)
Over the past year, Claire’s lab had two big papers published that involved wonderful collaborations. In the first project, Claire worked with a hair transplant surgeon who transplants hair follicles into skin to camouflage scars. Through biopsies at different time points after transplantation, they discovered that the presence of the hair follicles in the scar tissue facilitated scar remodeling. In the second project, Claire worked with a neurochemist in her department to study cells in the hair follicles that interact with surrounding sensory neurons. These neurons wrap around the hair follicles, and they wanted to understand the signals being sent between these cells. The neurochemist had developed a technique to measure neurotransmitters in real time, and they adapted this technique to analyze their cells of interest in culture. They discovered that the cells in hair follicles released the mood-regulating neurotransmitters histamine and serotonin in response to simulation, and this was different from similar cells in the skin, which only released histamine. These were two interesting stories that they were able to uncover through successful interdisciplinary collaborations.
Book Recommendations (29:54)
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
Most Treasured Travel (31:09)
Claire traveled to Kyoto, Japan, for a conference when she was a relatively new faculty member. This conference felt very different because she was now an independent investigator, and her lab was starting to generate new findings. At the conference one of the PhD students in her lab gave a presentation, and it was exciting to see research from the lab being shared with others in the field. Claire didn’t usually spend extra time before or after conferences to explore the cities she visited, but when she was flying home from Kyoto, it was the first time that she wished she had stayed longer. Kyoto was an amazing city, rich with culture, beautiful temples, arts and crafts, and remarkable food. She had an opportunity to return to Kyoto later, and for this trip, she brought her family, and they added a week of vacation after the conference. Their day trip to Nara was particularly memorable. Wild deer roam the grounds of Nara Park, and they bow at tourists to receive biscuits. This was a fun experience for her four year old and 18 month old children.
Quirky Traditions and Funny Memories (34:32)
In the lab where Claire was a postdoc, there was a technician who was always trying to get the group to relax and have fun. He started a tradition where every Friday, everyone would stop for a “happy five minutes” (like a happy hour, but shorter). There were about 20 people in the lab at the time, and everyone would gather in the conference room to chat and sip rice wine together after a long week. Though it usually lasted more than just five minutes, it was a really nice way to bring people together and get to know each other.
Advice For Us All (38:59)
Think outside the box, and don’t restrict yourself. It is really important to be creative, both within and outside of science, to identify new questions and come up with solutions. Also, in life, try to be more like the character Tigger in Winnie-the-Pooh than the character Eeyore. In science, you will continuously be writing grants and papers and facing rejections. You have to come at these challenges with enthusiasm and bounce back quickly after failures.
Guest Bio
Claire is a biologist by training, and she moved into bioengineering when she started her faculty position. The main focus of her research is to understand mechanisms of tissue development and regeneration, both in normal conditions, and in response to disease or injury. Claire uses the hair follicle as a model, as it is an accessible and elegant system to study organ regeneration. She prefers using a top down, bioengineering problem-solving approach to research and says it feels more natural to her. Perhaps this is in part due to her childhood – her dad was a civil engineer and Claire grew up in Cyprus, Bahrain, Somalia, and Ethiopia before moving to the UK to go to boarding school. She spent six years in Durham in England for her undergraduate and postgraduate studies, which at the time was the longest she had stayed in one place. This was followed by six years in New York City for a postdoc. This timeframe has been topped now as she has been working in London (UK) for ten years. Despite this, she has never lived in London and instead lives in a large town on the river Thames (about an hour to the west of London) with her husband, two kids, and a very excitable Springer Spaniel named Onions. Here, she balances her time between her hobbies, such as pottery, and her family and friends.

Support for this episode of People Behind the Science was provided by New England Biolabs, Inc.
The post 742: Dr. Claire Higgins: Studying Hair Follicles and Skin to Better Understand Tissue Development and Regeneration appeared first on People Behind the Science Podcast.
42 min
January 01, 2024 741: Dr. Ariel Furst: Engineering Microbes to Improve Equity in Human and Environmental Health
Dr. Ariel Furst is the Paul M. Cook Career Development Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). She received her B.S. degree in chemistry from the University of Chicago and her PhD in chemistry from the California Institute of Technology. Afterwards, she was awarded a Beckman Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship, and she conducted postdoctoral research at the University of California, Berkeley before joining the faculty at MIT in 2019. Ariel has received a variety of awards during her career, including the NIH Director’s New Innovator Award, the Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award, the Marion Milligan Mason Award from American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Women in Chemical Engineering Rising Star Award from the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE), and the Outstanding Mentor Award from the MIT Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program. She was also named a Scialog Fellow for Negative Emissions Science. In our interview, she shares more about her life and science.
People Behind the Science Podcast Show Notes
Life Outside of Science (3:06)
In her free time, Ariel and her husband enjoy experimenting with new recipes in the kitchen. She also likes to spend time outdoors hiking, jogging, and doing fun activities like apple picking with her lab members.
The Scientific Side (4:13)
In her research, Ariel has been using microbes to address problems surrounding human health, environmental remediation, and sustainability. They focus on energy equity by developing new technologies that are accessible to people who haven’t had access to technology but are negatively impacted by it. She is also working towards energy justice by developing technology and approaches to remediate prior harms to marginalized communities.
A Dose of Motivation (5:35)
“If you try it once, and it doesn’t work, try it again. If you try it a second time, and it doesn’t work, try it a third time. If it doesn’t work a third time, go take a break and head home for the day.”
What Got You Hooked on Science? (8:43)
When Ariel took her first chemistry classes in high school, she was not a fan. She didn’t like that every session in the lab portion of the class had a predetermined outcome. There were no elements of excitement or discovery. However, during high school, Ariel had an opportunity to experience scientific research first hand working in a research lab at a nearby university. The experience was transformative. When she enrolled in college at Wesleyan University, Ariel liked the school, but she wasn’t finding a research lab that was a good fit for her interests. She decided to transfer to the University of Chicago, and the research she did there really solidified her excitement for science. Ariel worked with exceptional scientists on fascinating projects throughout her training. When choosing her postdoc, Ariel knew she wanted to stay in a particular geographic area to be close to her significant other, and this was the right decision for her situation. She was ultimately drawn to MIT because of the outstanding science and the emphasis on translating science into real-world solutions that could improve people’s lives.
The Low Points: Failures and Challenges (20:06)
As a graduate student, Ariel worked on four different projects in her first year, but none of them were really going anywhere. During her committee meeting in her second year, Ariel’s committee told her she needed to start over with new projects because none of the current ones were panning out. She left the meeting feeling defeated and like she had wasted two years of hard work. A few frustrating months later, Ariel had developed new projects, and everything she worked on progressed much faster. She developed control experiments and moved forward more efficiently than would have otherwise been possible if she hadn’t had the knowledge and expertise from her prior failures. Learning to fail fast was a valuable lesson. Even though Ariel didn’t publish her first research paper until her fourth year of graduate school, she has had a successful career since then. It is important to remember that everyone’s PhD journey is different, and it’s how you handle the hard times that will determine your success.
A Shining Success! (24:39)
One of the platforms that Ariel’s team has developed allows them to put particular proteins on the surface of microbes. She does this genetically rather than by chemically attaching or isolating and purifying the proteins. Though the genetic approach was developed initially because she didn’t want to spend her Saturdays as a postdoc purifying proteins, this approach has proven to be tremendously valuable, has important benefits over other methods, and can be applied to a variety of projects in her lab. On the remediation side, Ariel’s group has worked on microbes that can degrade pesticides, forever chemicals, and plastics, and they have developed methods to use microbes for recycling rare earth elements and metals. Ariel and her team have also pioneered new chemical coatings for microbes to protect them during manufacturing and enhance their functions. For example, they developed microbes that can replace chemical fertilizers and increase crop yields.
Book Recommendations (6:50)
Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup by John Carreyrou, Crying in H Mart: A Memoir by Michelle Zauner
Most Treasured Travel (32:21)
A particularly inspiring and memorable trip that Ariel took for science brought her to Kyoto, Japan. She attended a science and technology conference there that brought together academic researchers, industry scientists, and policymakers. Having conversations with policymakers and understanding how they look at problems was really eye-opening. It has helped Ariel figure out what metrics they need to hit with their projects and what success would look like for policymakers. In addition, Ariel stayed a few extra days after the conference to see the city, and she enjoyed exploring the wide variety of temples in Kyoto. They were incredibly beautiful and surprisingly unique. Each temple had its own purpose and aesthetic.
Quirky Traditions and Funny Memories (35:07)
In graduate school at Caltech, there was a softball league that many of the labs participated in. Ariel’s lab was on a five year losing streak, and they didn’t win a single game the entire time she was there. They didn’t take these losses too seriously, and it was a lot of fun to hang out with the group every week and get to know people in the lab better. In her current lab, Ariel and her team plan a variety of different events throughout the year. For example, they had a fantastic time at an axe throwing excursion. Everyone had to choose a nickname, and the axe throwing got so intense that one of the boards fell down while they were there. The venue let them keep it, so they all signed the board, and it now has a special spot on the wall in Ariel’s office.
Advice For Us All (39:09)
The advice Ariel gives and the stories she shares are from within the framework of her own survivor bias as a faculty member at a great institution with an amazing lab. Everyone’s experiences and perspectives are different, so if anything doesn’t resonate with you, disregard it. No two paths are the same. Also, make sure to make the time and space for yourself. Your mental and physical health are key for ensuring that you can be the best scientist possible. Try to find an environment where that is honored and supported.

Support for this episode of People Behind the Science was provided by New England Biolabs, Inc.
The post 741: Dr. Ariel Furst: Engineering Microbes to Improve Equity in Human and Environmental Health appeared first on People Behind the Science Podcast.
43 min
December 25, 2023 740: Dr. Michael Demetriou: Targeting Complex Sugars on Cell Surfaces to Treat Multiple Sclerosis and Cancer
Dr. Michael Demetriou is Director of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society Designated Comprehensive Care Clinic, Professor of Neurology, and Chief of the Division of Multiple Sclerosis and Neuroimmunology at the University of California, Irvine (UCI) School of Medicine. He was awarded his MD and his PhD in molecular genetics from the University of Toronto. Mike completed his residency in Neurology at the University of Toronto as well and completed his postdoctoral fellowship at the Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto. He has received a variety of awards and honors in his career, including being named a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons in Canada. In addition, he has received UCI’s College of Medicine Committee on Research Award, the Health Science Partners Research Award, the Academic Senate Distinguished Service Award, and the Dr. S. Van Den Noort Research Award for Junior Faculty. In our interview, Mike shares more about his life and science.
People Behind the Science Podcast Show Notes
Life Outside of Science (3:00)
Mike is a big fan of the Toronto Maple Leafs hockey team. While he doesn’t play hockey himself anymore, he loves watching professional hockey games and seeing the Maple Leafs play whenever they are in town.
The Scientific Side (3:48)
In his research, Mike studies the biological roles of complex sugars called glycans. Glycans are mostly found outside of cells and on cell surfaces. They form a dense forest around the surface of cells and can interact with other proteins to regulate cellular functions through interactions with other cell surface proteins. Mike’s lab is interested in how these cell surface glycans influence biology and disease, particularly in autoimmune diseases like multiple sclerosis (MS) and in diseases like cancer where there are commonly abnormalities in these glycans.
A Dose of Motivation (6:21)
One thing that motivates Mike is the idea of perseverance, and this trait is key for success in science.
What Got You Hooked on Science? (8:24)
When Mike started college, he wanted to be a medical doctor. He was the first person in his family to go to college, and he had never heard of a PhD degree. During college, he met a fellow student whose father had a PhD, and Mike learned more about research in biomedical science. He was thrilled to discover that the University of Toronto had a dual MD/PhD program because this would allow him to integrate his clinical interests with research. Figuring out the right combination for his clinical specialty and research focus was initially challenging for Mike. Initially, he thought he wanted to be an oncologist, so he did research relevant to cancer for his PhD. When he returned to finish medical school after his PhD, he realized that oncology wasn’t the best fit for him. Mike didn’t like constantly feeling like he had failed when a patient with cancer passed away despite being given the best available care. He struggled to see himself being happy working in this area long term. Ultimately, he decided to pursue neurology because there were many interesting unanswered research questions in the field, and he found this clinical area rewarding as well. In particular, he discovered that inflammation contributes to pathology in a lot of neurological diseases. Mike returned to his PhD lab to conduct postdoctoral research looking at the relevance of the immune system and T-cells in multiple sclerosis, and this work resulted in a high profile paper that helped him launch his research career and land a faculty position at UCI where he is today.
The Low Points: Failures and Challenges (25:01)
Within his first year working as an assistant professor at UCI, Mike was successful in getting funding for his research from the National Institutes of Health. Things were off to a great start. However, his first grant ended five years later, and it was a struggle to get a second grant. There was less government funding for research available at that point, and he was still relatively early in his career as a scientist. It was a major challenge, but Mike succeeded by persevering and continuing to submit grant applications until one was eventually funded.
A Shining Success! (27:42)
Mike has had some exciting successes in his research in the area of autoimmune disease looking at multiple sclerosis. In particular, they are seeing promising results in their work investigating N-Acetylglucosamine as a compound to increase the amount of cell surface glycans, and thus reduce the hyperactivity of T-cells in autoimmune disease. Mike is excited to test this approach in a larger clinical trial next. The other side of Mike’s work investigates tumor immunity where the immune system attacks cancerous cells. His group is developing an immune-based cancer therapy focused on cell surface glycans. In cancer, it is common for there to be abnormal glycans on the surface of cells, and these abnormal glycans may be good targets for attacking just the tumor cells. Mike was thrilled to receive funding through The Vice President Biden’s Cancer Moonshot Program to investigate whether they can harness the immune system to kill tumor cells using genetically engineered chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-Cells that target the abnormal cell surface glycans. So far, they have developed multiple therapeutics that can target different glycans. This approach is unique because one drug can target most solid tumor cancers. They are now to the point of getting these new therapeutics into human clinical trials.
Book Recommendations (31:47)
The Lord of the Rings series by J. R. R. Tolkien and political blogs or posts such as The Hill.
Most Treasured Travel (32:41)
Over the course of his career, Mike has enjoyed going to many meetings in great locations with excellent science. This year, he was excited to attend the annual meeting of the Society for Glycobiology on the Big Island of Hawai’i. He had been to the island over a decade ago, but didn’t have a chance to go to the top of Mauna Kea, a sacred inactive volcano on the island. On his latest trip, he was able to scale the volcano, and it was a remarkable experience. On the ascent, you start at near sea level and climb to nearly 14,000 feet over the course of just a few hours. There are multiple large astronomy telescopes at the top of the volcano, and the 360-degree view from the top was incredible.
Quirky Traditions and Funny Memories (36:19)
Many scientists have interests and hobbies outside of science. Mike recalls there were always baseball and soccer teams of scientists, and sports were a great way to bring people together. In addition, having opportunities to travel the world is a great part of being a scientist that people may not immediately associate with the career. In his current lab, Mike enjoys going out to dinner with the group and having social get-togethers as well.
Advice For Us All (39:27)
Do what you love, and you’ll never work a day in your life. Follow your dreams. If you love what you do, you will work hard without realizing it, and this will lead to success.
Guest Bio
Mike is an active clinician-scientist and Professor of Neurology, Microbiology and Molecular Genetics. His research has been continuously funded by the NIH for >20 years, with an average of 2-4 active grants per year, 50 publications with ~6,250 citations. Mike’s laboratory focuses on the roles of complex carbohydrates called Asn(N)-linked glycans in cell function and diseases such as autoimmunity, multiple sclerosis (MS), and cancer. His work has revealed how genetic and metabolic regulation of N-glycosylation controls the function and activity of cell surface glycoproteins to affect cell growth/differentiation and diseases such as MS. He has served as a chartered member of two NIH study sections, and he has mentored 14 pre- and post-doctoral fellows and numerous undergraduate students. In addition, he is the Co-Principal Investigator of a KL2 mentored career development award funded by National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences via the Clinical and Translational Science Awards program. Mike has also translated his basic science research discoveries into human clinical studies as Principal Investigator and investigational new drug (IND) holder, is a Principal Investigator for the Biden Cancer Moonshot program, and co-founded two start-up companies.

Support for this episode of People Behind the Science was provided by New England Biolabs, Inc.
The post 740: Dr. Michael Demetriou: Targeting Complex Sugars on Cell Surfaces to Treat Multiple Sclerosis and Cancer appeared first on People Behind the Science Podcast.
42 min
December 18, 2023 739: Dr. Beth Weaver: Studying Cell Division to Better Understand and Improve Cancer Therapies
Dr. Beth Weaver is a Professor in the Department of Cell and Regenerative Biology and the Department of Oncology/McArdle Laboratory for Cancer Research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health. She is co-Leader of the Developmental Therapeutics Program at the University of Wisconsin Carbone Cancer Center. She received her B.S. in biochemistry from Brown University and her Ph.D. in biomedical sciences from the University of California, San Diego. Afterwards, Beth conducted postdoctoral research at the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research before joining the faculty at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She has received various awards and honors during her career. These have included receipt of the Bothwell Prize and the Women’s Health Research Mentorship Award from UW-Madison. In addition, she has been named an American Cancer Society Research Scholar, a Romnes Faculty Fellow by the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, and a University of Wisconsin Carbone Cancer Center Ride Scholar. In this interview, she shares more about her life and science.
People Behind the Science Podcast Show Notes
Life Outside of Science (3:10)
Outside of work, Beth enjoys spending time with her family. She, her husband, and their two children like to put together fun group costumes for Halloween each year (past themes have included characters from 101 Dalmatians, Hocus pocus, and Candy Land). Beth also brings this creativity into planning parties, and they recently decorated their house elaborately for a Harry Potter themed birthday party for one of their children.
The Scientific Side (4:52)
Beth’s lab studies a group of commonly used chemotherapy agents called microtubule poisons. Her research aims to improve treatment with these drugs by identifying a way to predict whether a particular patient will respond well to these drugs, and also develop a way to make resistant tumors more sensitive to these drugs. To achieve these goals, Beth and her team are working to improve our understanding of the mechanisms of these drugs.
A Dose of Motivation (6:38)
“Failure is a prerequisite for success.” Beth also stays motivated by thinking about science and her research projects as roller coasters. They require investment of time, resources, and planning up front. Once you’re on the roller coaster, there will likely be a series of long, steep climbs, but each of these will have an exciting rush on the downhill sections.
What Got You Hooked on Science? (10:27)
From her childhood through her early years in college, Beth didn’t really have a clear idea of what she wanted to do for a career or a particular interest in science. However, by the time she was five years old, she had already ruled out becoming a gymnast (didn’t start training early enough) and a doctor (couldn’t handle surgeries). Even after starting college, Beth didn’t know anything about careers in science. The first major she declared was anthropology, and there was a brief period where she thought she wanted to be an Egyptologist. Pouring over the archaeological records in dark corners of the university library felt like solving a thrilling mystery. When she learned about the difficulties of getting funding for this kind of research, Beth knew she needed to make a new plan. A friend suggested that she could do research in a lab, and Beth decided she would try it out. While studying abroad, Beth had a chance to do laboratory research, and she really enjoyed it. When she returned to Brown, she took an immunology class that she found really interesting, and she decided to pursue immunology in graduate school. As she learned more about the nuances and complexities of immunology, Beth realized that perhaps the field wasn’t what she was looking for. Fortunately, one of Beth’s teachers offered her a chance to rotate in his lab studying either neuroscience or mitosis (cell division). She opted for a mitosis project, and she quickly became hooked on research in this area.
The Low Points: Failures and Challenges (23:51)
A few years ago, Beth went through a difficult period where she couldn’t get editors to send her papers out for review, she struggled to get funding for some of her ideas, and she really started to get depressed about her lack of progress. Beth had overcome many challenges to get to where she was, and she thought it would get easier, but it didn’t. Thinking about the roller coaster metaphor assured her that there would eventually be a downhill section at the end of this climb. She also heard from her Department Chair that their grant was funded on the fourth submission. Realizing that other successful scientists still struggled with these same issues also helped lift her spirits. There will always be more challenges in science, and you just have to keep moving forward.
A Shining Success! (27:13)
Recently, Beth has had multiple exciting successes to celebrate. In the past month or so, she published a great paper, was selected for a mentoring award, and received an email from a respected colleague about how her work is transforming the field’s understanding of how the microtubule poison drugs work. These were all deeply rewarding successes. Celebrating the small wins in the lab is important for Beth as well. Lately, they had been struggling to label a particular protein. They tried multiple different antibodies and just couldn’t get it to work. However, one of her students recently pulled her from her office to the microscope to show off the beautifully stained protein. Seeing her trainees work through these challenges and get excited about solving problems in the lab is really gratifying for Beth as well.
Book Recommendations (29:34)
The Power of Fun: How to Feel Alive Again by Catherine Price
Most Treasured Travel (31:56)
For Beth’s first international conference, she had an opportunity to visit the town of Cortona in Italy. It was a beautiful place with amazing food, and the view from the top of the hill was fantastic. More recently, Beth attended a meeting in Portugal, and the coastal town of Cascais was also remarkable.
Quirky Traditions and Funny Memories (33:26)
Each major piece of equipment in Beth’s lab has been given a fun name. The microscopes are named after She-Ra characters like Adora, and all of their freezers and refrigerators are named after characters from The Muppets. Beth’s lab also has a wonderful tradition of making mitosis-related art. Lab members have made an artistic series of black and white images with the stages of mitosis, a chromosome-shaped pillow with banding patterns, and a multipolar mitotic spindle sculpture made out of colored wire.
Advice For Us All (37:06)
Aim high because even if you miss it, you will wind up somewhere worth being. Also, remember that it’s all about what you want. Keep trying, and don’t give up.
Guest Bio
Beth’s research is mainly focused on understanding how chromosome missegregation during mitosis affects tumor initiation, progression, and response to therapy. Her expertise comes from a variety of fields such as molecular and cellular biology, imaging, and cancer biology. Most recently Beth’s work has focused on understanding the anti-cancer mechanism of microtubule-targeted therapy and leveraging this understanding to convert this treatment from standard chemotherapy into personalized, precision medicine. As part of this effort, her group is working to develop a biomarker to predict whether a specific patient is likely to benefit from this treatment. They are also working to develop methods to sensitize the large number of resistant tumors. Outside of lab, Beth enjoys amusement parks, gardening, traveling to places with warm weather, hosting themed parties with signature drinks, and orchestrating elaborate group costumes with family and friends.

Support for this episode of People Behind the Science was provided by New England Biolabs, Inc.
The post 739: Dr. Beth Weaver: Studying Cell Division to Better Understand and Improve Cancer Therapies appeared first on People Behind the Science Podcast.
39 min
December 11, 2023 738: Dr. Magdalena Osburn: Combining Geology and Microbiology to Investigate Modern and Ancient Microbes
Dr. Magdalena Osburn is an Associate Professor in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Northwestern University. She received her bachelor’s degree in Earth & Planetary Sciences and Environmental Studies from Washington University in St. Louis. Afterwards, she enrolled in graduate school at the California Institute of Technology where she earned her M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in geobiology from the Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences. Next, Maggie conducted postdoctoral research at the University of Southern California before joining the faculty at Northwestern University. Maggie has received a variety of awards and honors during her career. She was the recipient of a Packard Fellowship Award in 2017, she has recently received the Sulzman award for teaching and mentoring from the American Geophysical Union, and she has also been named a CIFAR Fellow by the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research and an AT&T Fellow by Northwestern University. In this interview, Maggie shares more about her life and science.
People Behind the Science Podcast Show Notes
Life Outside of Science (2:58)
When she’s not working, Maggie likes to go hiking, backpacking, and generally be outside exploring nature. When she’s able to get away, she loves going on road trips to enjoy the splendor of the mountains in Montana. At home, Maggie also spends her time doing yoga, running, and knitting.
The Scientific Side (4:22)
Maggie’s research brings together microbiology and geology to understand biological activity in different environments in the past and present. She studies unique microbes that live in extreme environments like deep mines, hot springs, and caves.
A Dose of Motivation (5:05)
“Well-behaved women rarely make history.” – Laurel Thatcher Ulrich
“Stay humble.” – Maggie’s husband
What Got You Hooked on Science? (9:39)
Since both of her parents have master’s degrees in geology, Maggie was immersed in science from a young age. Her mother worked as an emergency room nurse, but her dad pursued a career in geology. He was also an avid caver and cave cartographer. Maggie learned basic survey techniques to make cave maps when she was in middle school, and these skills allowed her to accompany her father in the field as a cartography assistant. She spent her summers in high school working in Yellowstone National Park with Dr. Everett Shock and a crew of scientists who were studying microbes, gasses, and waters in the hot springs there to understand the energy resources and the organisms that lived in those sites. Maggie and her father mapped the hot springs to provide spatial context for where the samples were collected. As part of this work, Maggie got interested in geochemistry as well. Though she started her undergraduate studies as a chemistry major, the opportunities to participate in meaningful research in a smaller department brought her back to Earth science. She realized that she could still do chemistry and microbiology research there, but apply it to exciting systems in Earth science.
The Low Points: Failures and Challenges (30:42)
There are definitely more failures than successes in science. Working with microbes, it can be frustrating when samples sometimes get contaminated with other microbes. Also, the mass spectrometers they use in their research are notoriously finicky instruments that are often broken. The mass spectrometer that she needed for her PhD research was broken for years. While this was a major problem, it was also a great opportunity for Maggie to learn about how the instrument worked and how to fix it. During those years, she rebuilt every part of it and these skills are really valuable now that she has her own lab.
A Shining Success! (35:19)
As a faculty member, the most gratifying successes for Maggie right now are the successes and achievements of her students. It is indescribably rewarding when a student successfully defends their thesis or has a really big win in the lab. The first student who worked in Maggie’s lab is now a faculty member at another institution, and she recently published an important paper on a project that had been in progress since the student’s second year of graduate school. Maggie was more excited about that paper than any of her own first-author papers, because she got to see the evolution of the project and all of the effort her trainee put into the paper over the years.
Book Recommendations (37:36)
Annals of the Former World by John McPhee, Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds & Shape Our Futures by Merlin Sheldrake
Most Treasured Travel (39:18)
Yellowstone National Park will always be a special place for Maggie because this is where she first started doing science. In addition, for a portion of her PhD research, Maggie worked in the country of Oman in the Middle East. While visiting Oman, Maggie got to see some beautifully preserved rocks in the desert on the central coast. There were sand dunes everywhere as far as you could see. Another area of Maggie’s research brought her to British Columbia in Canada to study organisms in unique hypersaline (highly salty) lakes that had an unusual spotted appearance due to the presence of brine pools. She loves all of the different places she gets to visit for science.
Quirky Traditions and Funny Memories (40:46)
Maggie’s lab has developed some quirky traditions surrounding their laboratory instruments. They have a Baby Yoda shrine at their mass spectrometer where they leave small foil balls as tribute to bring them luck in their experiments. They also name all of their instruments after musical divas, including Beyoncé, Lizzo, Rhianna, and Taylor Swift.
Advice For Us All (46:31)
When you submit something important with a high probability of failure (like a job application, grant proposal, or paper manuscript), don’t think about it after you’ve sent it in. Maintain some emotional distance because there is a lot of rejection in science, and being able to pivot is key. If you are looking for inspiration, go outside and enjoy the small details of the smells, sounds, and sights of nature.
Guest Bio
Maggie is a geobiologist interested in understanding interactions between microbes and Earth, and how we can trace signatures of biological activity in modern and ancient environments. Her lab uses a diverse suite of tools to answer these questions including analysis of lipid biomarkers, organic isotopes, microbial cultivation, and DNA sequencing, all stemming from and grounded in detailed characterization of field sites. The lab focuses on “extreme” microbially-dominated environments, such as deep mines, limestone and basaltic caves, hypersaline lakes, hot springs, and Greenland. In her research, Maggie asks how microbes persist in deep continental settings, including to what extent they use materials from the surface. She uses micro-scale imaging and DNA sequencing to identify organisms, reconstruct their genomes, and see how they interact with minerals and one another. She is also interested in developing new cultivation techniques both in the lab and in the environment to help understand why these microbes are so hard to grow and ultimately, grow them. In her free time, Maggie loves being in the outdoors, going hiking and camping whenever possible. She also is an avid knitter, and she loves to do yoga and try new recipes.

Support for this episode of People Behind the Science was provided by New England Biolabs, Inc.
The post 738: Dr. Magdalena Osburn: Combining Geology and Microbiology to Investigate Modern and Ancient Microbes appeared first on People Behind the Science Podcast.
50 min
December 04, 2023 737: Dr. Erdem Tabdanov: Investigating the Mechanics of How Cells Move in Cancer and the Immune System
Dr. Erdem Tabdanov is Assistant Professor in the Department of Pharmacology at Penn State College of Medicine and also a Member of the Penn State Cancer Institute. He received his bachelor’s degree in biotechnology and his MSc in chemistry and molecular and cellular biotechnology from Lomonosov Moscow State Academy of Fine Chemical Technology (MITHT). He was awarded his PhD in cancer research from L’Institut Curie in Paris. Afterwards, Erdem conducted postdoctoral research at the University of Pennsylvania and Columbia University. He then served in the 82nd Airborne Division of the U.S. army for four years. Erdem completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Minnesota before joining the faculty at Penn State where he is today. In this interview, Erdem shares more about his life and science.
People Behind the Science Podcast Show Notes
Life Outside of Science (2:51)
Some of Erdem’s hobbies outside of science include working out at the gym, calligraphy, sketching, digital art, and other visual arts. He is also considering adopting a cat. His interest in digital art emerged from his desire to put the story of his research together in compelling figures and schematics for scientific journal articles.
The Scientific Side (7:10)
Erdem works in the field of mechanobiology where he studies the mechanical and structural aspects of cells. He wants to better understand how cells physically move, sense their environments, and accomplish their various functions. This is very relevant to cancer biology because cancer cells can move to different parts of the body to form new tumors in healthy tissues. In addition, the cells of the immune system are highly motile. They cover long differences and travel through dense, solid tissues to find and address threats to our health.
A Dose of Motivation (13:17)
How do you get better at something? Do more of it.
What Got You Hooked on Science? (17:45)
When he was twelve years old, Erdem became fascinated with the symmetry and asymmetry present within our bodies. For example, our limbs are mirrored on the left and right, but some organs form on one side but not the other. He wanted to know how cells in the developing embryo establish this asymmetry. Erdem’s early interests were in mathematics, but after reading the literature to try to shed light on the asymmetry issue, he discovered the science of biology. Realizing that cells weren’t the static bubbles depicted in textbooks was transformative. Erdem became particularly interested in the cytoskeleton of cells because it is a highly dynamic component of the cell that determines how the cell physically and mechanically does what it does. These interests attracted him to biology, but Erdem knew that he needed a strong theoretical background from fields like physics, math, mechanics, and chemistry, so he decided to pursue an engineering degree in college. From there he continued to follow his interests as his scientific career unfolded.
The Low Points: Failures and Challenges (33:35)
During his PhD, Erdem was assigned a project with the goal of transforming a certain cancer cell line into neuron-like cells. His advisors believed that if these cells were transfected with the receptors from neuronal cells, they would become more neuron-like. After working on this project for a year and a half, Erdem hadn’t made much progress. Not only was he not seeing evidence of a transformation in the cancer cells, but he couldn’t even get the plasmid encoding the gene of interest into the cells. Instead of continuing to try the same failing experiments over and over, hoping that it would somehow work, Erdem decided he had to make a change. He managed to convince his advisor that it wasn’t going to work, and Erdem was able to pivot to a more fruitful project that he proposed. Stepping away from this initial project was definitely the right decision for his career.
A Shining Success! (36:59)
One of the exciting projects Erdem is working on now focuses on the ameboid motility and self-segmentation of our immune cells. How they accomplish these movements is still not well understood. Erdem discovered that septin proteins are important for this self-segmentation process and other functions that are key for migrating cells. This has important implications for cancer treatments because it is physically difficult for immune cells to get inside of dense solid tumors to break them down. Understanding how immune cells move can help these cells penetrate into tumors. This project has the potential to have major impacts, and it was really exciting because Erdem accurately predicted the outcomes for multiple steps of the experiments over the course of an entire year. Everything worked as expected, and this is a highly unusual course of events in science. This was Eredem’s series of Eureka moments.
Book Recommendations (40:17)
The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov, Faust by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, books by Carl Sagan.
Most Treasured Travel (42:52)
A destination that Erdem particularly enjoyed was Leipzig in Germany. This small city has an incredibly rich history. The composers and musicians Felix Mendelssohn and Johann Sebastian Bach both worked there, and it is the place where the play Faust was written. Visitors can actually go to the places described in Faust and experience them firsthand. The city also has an interesting mixture of architecture, and there are multiple layers to explore. Erdem likes seeing the sites and facets of cities that aren’t the usual tourist stops advertised on postcards.
Quirky Traditions and Funny Memories (45:47)
People may not realize that many scientists are superstitious. Erdem has known people who have particular rituals or unusual steps they take before starting an experiment in the hopes of increasing the likelihood of success. One example of this type of behavior is wearing a particular pair of lucky shoes every time there is an important experiment to be done. Coming from a predominantly military family, Erdem was surprised to see highly logical people engaging in these practices and also having a spiritual side. It’s not uncommon for scientists to be interested in spirituality, the human mind, yoga, meditation, the supernatural, etc. Scientists have varied interests, just like people in other professions.
Advice For Us All (50:18)
People who get to the point where they can call themselves successful possess one important quality: grit. You have to cultivate this grit and the ability to keep getting up and doing things that aren’t easy. Grit is an important part of your personality that is essential for achieving great things. Also, don’t try to solve problems alone. Always seek second opinions.
Guest Bio
Erdem’s lab is focused on the principles of cell collective behavior and 3-D motility, governed by cytoskeletal machinery and cell organelles mechanics, unified into an active, heterogeneous, composite “smart” decision-making gel. Work in the lab focuses on the cytoskeleton, which features a hierarchical multi-tier organization and extreme mechanostructural adaptiveness. This allows the cytoskeleton to integrate external and internal mechanical, structural, and biochemical signals into a single spatiotemporal pattern of cell behaviors and responsiveness modes, currently studied as isolated phenomena (e.g., mechanosensing). The lab’s mission is to build a more integrated biophysical model of cell behavior that will be more biologically and medically relevant than other paradigms. Erdem’s lab is particularly interested in the principles of 3-D motility of immune and cancer cells to better optimize immunological treatment strategies for cancer. Since immune cell 3-D motility remains largely undeciphered, the lab is developing and testing the biophysical models of T-cell motility as a balance and/or a superposition of various modes of cell motility, which also cross-integrate multiple components of the T-cell cytoskeleton, as well as the overall T-cell architecture and T-cell organelles’ mechanical and structural contribution. Solid tumors represent a mechanosteric challenge for immune cell infiltration, thus remaining largely unavailable for targeting by the immune system. To address this, the lab is developing a strategy to increase CD4+ and CD8+ T-cell motility in the mechanostructurally aggressive biomimetic and/or native tumor microenvironments to achieve a better intratumoral T-cell infiltration. This strategy is based on the pharmacological control, as well as genetic modifications, of cytoskeletal signaling that shift and adjust various modes of T-cell cytoskeletal dynamics to customize and improve T-cell infiltration capabilities in various microenvironments.

Support for this episode of People Behind the Science was provided by New England Biolabs, Inc.
The post 737: Dr. Erdem Tabdanov: Investigating the Mechanics of How Cells Move in Cancer and the Immune System appeared first on People Behind the Science Podcast.
55 min
November 27, 2023 736: Dr. Alexis Wood: Studying How Food Influences Our Health and Behavior
Dr. Alexis “Lekki” Wood is Associate Professor at USDA/ARS Children’s Nutrition Research Center in the Division of Pediatrics-Nutrition at Baylor College of Medicine. She received her BSc with honors in Psychology and from the University of Warwick. Afterwards, she completed her Postgraduate Certificate in Education at the University of Cambridge. Lekki enrolled in graduate school at King’s College London where she earned her MSc in social, genetic, and developmental psychiatry and her PhD in statistical genetics. Next, she conducted postdoctoral research at the University of Alabama focusing on statistical genetics and epidemiology. Lekki served on the faculty at The University of Texas, Health Sciences Center for about two years before joining the faculty at Baylor College of Medicine where she is today. Lekki has received a variety of awards and honors for her work, including the Young Investigator Award from the International Congress on ADHD and the Young Investigator Award from the Department of Pediatrics at Baylor College of Medicine. In addition, she has received the Scott Grundy Award for Excellence in Metabolism Research and the Mark Bieber Award for Excellence in Nutrition Research, both from the American Heart Association. She was also named a Fellow of the American Heart Association in 2015. In our interview, she shares more about her life and science.
People Behind the Science Podcast Show Notes
Life Outside of Science (3:18)
In her free time, you can find Lekki working out at the gym and spending quality time with her two children and their German shepherd. She is also a Lego builder and a competitive Pokémon card player along with her son.
The Scientific Side (4:35)
Research in Lekki’s lab aims to better understand how food influences our health. She examines the full chain of changes that occur from the moment food is put into our mouths, through digestion and absorption of particular molecules, to where those molecules go and how they affect our organs. Lekki is interested in differences both within and between people. For example certain people may absorb more of a particular molecule when they eat a certain food than other people, and absorption may differ depending on the time of day.
A Dose of Motivation (6:45)
Lekki is a team scientist, both in terms of how she approaches work within her lab, as well as fostering collaborations and team science between her lab and others. Sometimes having a team can help you put one foot in front of the other and get started. Team work makes the dream work.
What Got You Hooked on Science? (11:43)
Growing up, Lekki was an exceptionally curious kid. At the age of about three years old, her parents had to put a limit on the number of ‘why’ questions she could ask per day because she asked so many. Initially, she wanted to be an actress, but then she settled on pursuing a career as a corporate lawyer. She prepared for this planned profession through undergraduate, but then when she began thinking about the standard questions in her applications for law school, Lekki realized that this wasn’t really what she wanted to do. Lekki wanted to be more connected with people, so she pivoted her career path towards cognitive psychology. In her early career, she was a cognitive psychologist working with children with traumatic brain injury, and then she became a teacher for children with disabilities. Lekki loved teaching, but through interactions with clinicians working in this realm, she realized that there were still so many unanswered questions, and in many cases, the information she got didn’t match what she saw with children in her classroom. She decided to switch to a career in research to generate more knowledge to answer some of these questions.
The Low Points: Failures and Challenges (24:37)
During her PhD, Lekki worked with her supervisor to better understand how genes are linked to cognitive patterns in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). She was fascinated by this research and wanted to apply a similar approach to studying cognition and obesity during her postdoctoral fellowship. Unfortunately, her planned postdoc position fell through, and she ended up working in a different research area. Once she launched her own lab, Lekki was excited to use this approach to study nutrition and chronic disease. The first thing she tried was lipidomics, looking at all of the relevant lipids like fats and cholesterols. After three years, it became clear that lipidomics was unlikely to be adopted in clinical settings due to cost and other limitations. Lekki tried other -omics approaches, including genomics, to try to find her niche in the field, but she just wasn’t satisfied with the kinds of questions she could answer or the answers she was getting. There was a point in 2020 where Lekki began to feel like she couldn’t do science anymore. She considered whether she should leave academia and try to apply her mathematics and modeling skills in finance or other sectors. At the same time, Lekki was struggling with the COVID-19 pandemic and a very difficult divorce that impacted her productivity and her ability to focus on science. This was a tough time, and she was feeling lost. When a colleague asked her if she wanted to pursue a similar line of questioning in metabolomics, she agreed, and after more hard work, this research really took off.
A Shining Success! (30:48)
While Lekki doesn’t do much teaching at the medical school where she works, she really enjoys teaching and seeks out opportunities to lecture at other schools nearby. This is a huge win. It is really rewarding to have people chat with her about her work after a lecture or to receive an email from a student interested in her research. Lekki also really enjoys seeing students start to apply science and think critically about what they are seeing in their everyday lives. In addition, she gets great satisfaction from seeing people take steps and follow paths that make them happy.
Book Recommendations (32:47)
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V. E. Schwab
Most Treasured Travel (34:17)
In 2016, Lekki had an opportunity to travel to Brisbane, Australia, for a six-day scientific conference, and it was an unforgettable adventure. She brought her two children who were only eight months and three years old at the time. This introduced some challenges, but they made some amazing family memories together. The city of Brisbane was fantastic, and there was a lot to see. Lekki and her family particularly enjoyed visiting the kangaroos, hanging out on the incredible beaches, and touring a local winery.
Quirky Traditions and Funny Memories (36:03)
Not all scientists look and act the same. Rather than the stereotypical white lab coat or professor’s jacket with elbow patches, Lekki prefers to dress informally and in vivid colors. For example, she has a fun pair of colorful boots featuring characters from the movie The Nightmare Before Christmas. Lekki also has a very low tolerance for people taking other people’s ideas and not giving proper credit. People are sometimes surprised when she unabashedly corrects people when this occurs.
Advice For Us All (42:16)
Reach for the stars while keeping your feet on the ground. It is important to push yourself and work towards big goals while also remaining grounded and working methodically towards your goals. Also, you’re doing a lot better than you think, so don’t put undue pressure on yourself.
Guest Bio
Alexis (Lekki) is considered a leading researcher in the area of precision nutrition that utilizes multi-omic data to understand relationships between diet and health for a range of chronic diseases in both children and adults. Most recently Lekki’s work at the USDA/ARS Children’s Nutrition Research Center at Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Children’s Hospital has been looking at metabolite data as it connects to red meat intake and inflammation as well as looking at biomarkers of overall dietary patterns and their role in protecting against type 2 diabetes. Outside of work, Lekki spends her time engaging in a variety of hobbies from weightlifting, building LEGOs for a makeshift town that encompasses her entire garage, and playing competitive Pokemon TCG. She has two children (ages 8 and 11) and a partner who works in science communication and who may, or may not, have helped her compose this bio.

Support for this episode of People Behind the Science was provided by New England Biolabs, Inc.
The post 736: Dr. Alexis Wood: Studying How Food Influences Our Health and Behavior appeared first on People Behind the Science Podcast.
46 min
November 20, 2023 735: Dr. Gareth Fraser: Growing Our Understanding of the Development, Regeneration, and Evolution of Teeth
Dr. Gareth Fraser is an Associate Professor in the Department of Biology at the University of Florida. He received his bachelor’s degree in palaeobiology and evolution from the University of Portsmouth, his master’s degree in evolutionary biology and systematics from the University of Glasgow, and his PhD in evolutionary developmental biology from King’s College London. Afterwards, Gareth conducted postdoctoral research at the Georgia Institute of Technology. He served on the faculty at The University of Sheffield for about nine years before joining the faculty at the University of Florida in 2018. In this interview, he shares more about his life and science.
People Behind the Science Podcast Show Notes
Life Outside of Science (2:40)
When he’s not working, Gareth enjoys being outside in nature, playing soccer, scuba diving, and hunting for fossils in the creek near their home. He and his two young daughters have also been having fun exploring the mysterious realm of cryptozoology and reading books about monsters.
The Scientific Side (3:56)
Gareth is a developmental biologist interested in how things form during development, how they are recreated during regeneration, and how features develop and persist on evolutionary timescales. His lab typically examines these questions looking at oral teeth and dermal denticles (tooth-like structures) in unusual fish like pufferfish, hammerhead sharks, and ghost sharks (chimaera).
A Dose of Motivation (6:25)
“Keep asking your questions.” – Stephen Hawking
“Remember to look up at the stars and not down at your feet. Try to make sense of what you see and wonder about what makes the universe exist. Be curious.” – Stephen Hawking
What Got You Hooked on Science? (11:04)
The ocean has fascinated Gareth from an early age, and as a kid, he spent a lot of time exploring and finding fossils at their local limestone beach. After his parents separated, he sometimes accompanied his father night fishing, and Gareth will never forget the first time he watched the movie Jaws at the age of seven. These experiences deepened his curiosity about the natural world. Along the way, some of Gareth’s teachers encouraged his interests, particularly his high school geology and history teachers. As a first-generation college student, Gareth wasn’t familiar with academic career paths, and he didn’t know any scientists. However, he knew he wanted a career doing science, and he decided to go to college. Through serendipitous connections, Gareth was recruited for a new course in paleobiology and evolution at the University of Portsmouth. This was a great experience where he learned a lot of geology, paleobiology, and marine biology. Towards the end of his time there, Gareth began to get more interested in genes and development, so he decided to pursue a master’s degree in this area. As his master’s program wrapped up, Gareth began thinking about his next steps. The final piece missing from his training was developmental biology. He found the perfect PhD program at Kings College London, but by the time he found the advertisement, the application deadline had already passed. Fortune was in Gareth’s favor because after visiting the lab he was interested in, he discovered that there was still an opening for a PhD student. Gareth accepted the position, and this further cemented his scientific career path.
The Low Points: Failures and Challenges (36:53)
Though he had an outstanding experience in his PhD program overall, the first year was really difficult. Shortly after he joined the lab, Gareth’s advisor went on sabbatical for about eight months in Australia. She had made arrangements for him to work in another lab during her absence, but the new lab turned out not to be a good fit. Gareth wasn’t excited about this lab’s research area, and he and the lab director didn’t get along well. Ultimately, Gareth made the difficult decision to leave the lab because he wasn’t making the progress he wanted or getting the support he needed. Gareth was pretty sure his scientific career was over before it really got started. The imposter syndrome was severe, and he dreaded having to tell his family that after spending all this time, effort, and money, his career wasn’t working out like he thought it would. Fortunately, Gareth had developed many other connections within the school, and when he went to submit his resignation letter to the dean, Gareth was surprised by the response. The dean and other faculty within and outside the department were determined to help him find a lab to work in where he could do research he was excited about. After exploring a few options, Gareth chose a new lab, and it turned out to be a fantastic fit.
A Shining Success! (44:27)
About two years ago, Gareth’s lab started a project working on ghost sharks (chimaera). These are deep sea fishes with a variety of strange physical features including their slimy texture, their venomous dorsal fin spine, and their unusual tooth plate. Gareth had wanted to study these fish for a long time, and he was thrilled when an opportunity arose to teach in a Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program at the University of Washington’s marine station in the Pacific Northwest. This is one of only three places in the world where ghost sharks come into the shallower water to breed and feed. In the particular species of ghost shark there, the males have an odd club-like, articulated appendage that comes out of a cup in their foreheads. This structure is called a tenaculum, and Gareth wanted to know what this structure was used for and whether the teeth in the bulb at the end of the tenaculum were more closely related to oral teeth or dermal denticles. The last scuba dive of the trip was scheduled for late at night, and Gareth was thrilled to spot a male ghost shark during the dive. The inquisitive fish swam with them for about twenty minutes while Gareth filmed it. At one point, the ghost shark turned to him and shot out its tenaculum. Gareth couldn’t believe his luck to have seen this phenomenon and to have managed to record it. They are now working on a paper based on this cool ghost shark project.
Book Recommendations (56:51)
Into The Jungle: Great Adventures in the Search for Evolution by Sean Carroll, Remarkable Creatures: Epic Adventures in the Search for the Origins of Species by Sean Carroll, The Creative Act: A Way of Being by Rick Rubin
Most Treasured Travel (1:00:21)
Gareth has had multiple opportunities to travel to Japan so far in his career. During his PhD, he met a wonderful friend and colleague who was a visiting professor at Kings College London. This individual invited Gareth to visit Japan and got him connected with researchers at the Misaki Marine Biological Station. One collaborative project they are working on now is focused on pufferfish. These fish are unique because they form a beak, rather than teeth, during development. The Misaki Marine Biological Station is in a beautiful, isolated area on the coast south of Tokyo, and Gareth has enjoyed working on the pufferfish project, as well as taking time to enjoy the natural beauty of the country, including climbing Mount Fuji.
Quirky Traditions and Funny Memories (1:03:04)
When Gareth was on the faculty at the University of Sheffield, he and some of his colleagues formed a department band. They played cover songs as the opening comedy act at the graduation ball for undergraduates each year, and students could shout out song requests for them to play. It was an outstanding opportunity to show students that academics knew how to have fun, be creative, and have a sense of humor.
Advice For Us All (1:08:17)
Science is a marathon, not a sprint. Don’t focus all your energy on hitting major milestones right away. Pace yourself, and make sure you enjoy the journey.
Guest Bio
Gareth’s research is based around understanding the diversity, development, and regeneration of vertebrate dentitions, with a major focus on sharks and their relatives. His interdisciplinary work cuts across several fields such as paleontology, developmental biology, and regenerative biology. Gareth’s most recent work has enhanced our understanding of craniofacial and tooth development using unconventional models of evolutionary developmental biology, including sharks, pufferfish, and chimaeras (ghost sharks). These organisms have evolved sometimes extreme and divergent morphologies that allow us to appreciate the boundaries of evolutionary change. Gareth takes great pleasure in finding out how these oddball species develop and why they form such unusual features. Recently, Gareth and his collaborators have set up an accessible Research Experience for Undergraduates program, specifically focused on increasing research opportunities for students with disabilities. Outside of the lab, Gareth enjoys soccer, scuba diving, wildlife photography, fossil hunting, and learning about cryptozoology with his two daughters.

Support for this episode of People Behind the Science was provided by New England Biolabs, Inc.
The post 735: Dr. Gareth Fraser: Growing Our Understanding of the Development, Regeneration, and Evolution of Teeth appeared first on People Behind the Science Podcast.
1 hr 12 min

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